Ever since iPhoneOS (now iOS) has been released, there's an old fight going on about how multitasking should work on personal computers, and more specially what should happen to applications which are put in the background. Some advocate that they should be dipped in virtual liquid nitrogen and stop doing anything, like on iOS, which others advocate that they should continue to run in the background, like on desktop OSs. What about putting a little more flexibility in there?

There isn't one single answer to this because we're not all identical. This even comes down to brain topologies - ADHD for example is a physical different in the prefrontal cortex wherein the part of the brain that in most people marshals the other parts of the brain to do things at will doesn't really activate - like a town where the mayor is always asleep and everyone else is very busy doing what they think right. For someone like this a lot of multitasking is going to be a real problem unless you're already a real expert in what you're doing.

So there's not just subjective preference, here, there's different needs. For me OSX's interface strikes the right balance between multitasking and alerts, though Growl, which some people swear by, isn't all that helpful.

You can have completely different preferences in interface from me. That's allowed.